Though considered a failure in his day, colorful movie-maker Edward D. Wood Jr began to rise in popularity in the decades after his death. By the 1990's, there was a full blown explosion of interest in the troubled director/actor/etc which culminated in Tim Burton's sentimental biopic ED WOOD. The film follows Wood through the 1950's, the time in which he made his most famous movies (transvestite educational drama -seriously- GLEN OR GLENDA, mad scientist monster epic BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, and loopy science fiction masterwork PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE). Hitting only the highlights of his film career, the film focuses mainly on Ed's personal life. His hero-worship of Bela Lugosi, his deteriorating relationship with Dolores Fuller and his much more loving relationship with his bride-to-be Kathy, his schemes, scams, and runarounds involving producers and his menagerie of friends and hangers-on. Not the most accurate depiction of Wood and his life, but nonetheless a touching pseudo-comedy filled with a galaxy of stars. Johnny Depp plays Wood, supported by the likes of Bill Murray, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lisa Marie, and George "the Animal" Steele (he playing wrestler Tor Johnson), among others. Martin Landau steals the show as the aged Bela Lugosi, a performance which won him an Oscar -and another one for Rick Baker's makeup. Given how quirky Burton is as a director, he was really the perfect choice to bring to the screen a biopic of one of the oddest individuals to ever make movies. Again, not the most accurate depiction, but oddly charming.
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